The Exception

by Adriana Locke

  I heard a chair squeak. “You are right. It’s time we focus on the future.”

  My mind raced with possibilities.

  Who is this woman he clearly has a past with? And what do their futures have in common?

  Dear God, is he cheating on me?

  The lump in my throat was the size of a baseball and, try as I might, I couldn’t get past it.

  “Focusing on the future is exactly what I want to do.” Cane’s voice was soft. It destroyed me that he was using that tone with another woman while discussing his future.

  Tears sprung to my eyes and my hand grabbed my throat. I could feel my body heating as fear and a pain so real tore through me.

  What the hell is going on?

  “Let’s do that. Come by the hotel tonight. I have a little kitchenette. I’ll go to the grocery and find some seafood and make you a dinner that you can’t find out here. Or I could come to your house, if that’s better.”

  “Ashley …”

  And, just like that, my world stopped spinning.

  I swung my hand to my mouth to stop from crying out.

  “I know what you like, Cane. I know you better than anyone. I even brought you some coffee milk. Remember that?”

  I heard Cane’s laugh and it reverberated through me.

  “I’ve spent the last few years wondering what happened to you and feeling like you were the one that got away, that you would always be the piece of my life that was missing. We were so great together, baby. And we still are. I know you know what I mean,” Ashley said.

  “The one that got away, huh?” Cane laughed. I could imagine his face, how the lines around his eyes crinkled and the smile across his gorgeous lips. The tears, hot against my cheeks, fell quicker.

  “Remember how we sang that song about buffalo in that karaoke bar in Newport? I still can’t believe that really happened,” Ashley giggled.

  “Lots of tequila made that happen,” Cane said.

  They were silent for a moment and I struggled to keep myself from making any noise for fear of being discovered. I wanted to walk away, knowing that listening to their conversation was wrong, but I couldn’t force myself to leave. It was like watching a train barrel at you, knowing you were going to have your legs cut off at best, but not being able to move. I was a glutton for punishment.

  “That tequila made a lot more than that happen,” she giggled.

  “Look, Ashley. You seem to be doing really well and I’m glad to see that, but—“

  “Jada!” Lucy said brightly, coming around the corner. I jumped at the sound, accidentally bumping the door. “I didn’t know you were coming in this morning. It’s so good to see you.”

  As I stood upright, I looked to my side into Cane’s office … and into the eyes of the man I loved.

  Our eyes found each other immediately, as they always did. Panic filled Cane’s eyes as he realized I had heard everything.

  Bile rose in my throat as I felt wave after wave of sorrow, anger, frustration, jealousy, and loneliness roll across me, drowning me in despair.

  It was just too much.

  Turning on my heel, I bolted towards my car.

  And Cane didn’t follow.

  That was the loudest thing I heard all day.

  CANE

  I jumped from my chair and stormed past Ashley, going after the one person in my life I couldn’t live without. The look on her face, knowing what she must be thinking, ripped a hole into my soul.

  I have to get to her! I can’t let her walk away! Hurry the fuck up!

  “Cane, baby,” Ashley said behind me.

  “No, Ashley,” I said, turning towards her, my body shaking with fury. “I am not your baby.”

  Her face fell as her lips pouted together. “Cane? What’s going on?”

  I laughed as my voice rumbled with the anger that I couldn’t unleash. All of the stress, the fucking torment, I had been dealing with all came to a nasty head.

  “It’s pretty fucking easy,” I said, looking into her eyes for some sort of warmth, something to make me feel like she wasn’t the cold manipulator I knew her to be.

  “I don’t understand what’s going on,” she said, standing up in front of me, her hand grasping the arm of her chair for support.

  “Oh, I bet you do. As a matter of fact, I’ll bet that Nicole called you the other night and let you know that she ran into me. And you decided to make an appearance because I ignored your calls.”

  Ashley struggled to keep her composure. “Well, no. I just … I’ve been thinking about you. That’s all. I had a dream a few nights ago that we were getting married and I couldn’t shake it. It just felt like an omen or something.”

  I took a step towards her, my blood searing.

  “The answer to every dream I’ve ever had is on her way home now, pissed as fuck at me,” I seethed.

  Ashley’s eyes grew wide. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  I strode over to the door and swung it open, holding it in place. “That means you need to get the hell out of here and forget that we ever knew each other.”

  “So because your little girlfriend is now mad at you that I was here, you want me to forget our history together? I don’t think so, Cane. How can you forget something as magical as we had?”

  “Magical? For fuck’s sake, are you serious?” I laughed in disbelief. “She’s more than you could ever hope to be and by some fucked up chance, she likes me. She may even love me. And if you’ve fucked my life up again, so help me God, Ashley.”

  Ashley whipped around to face me, her eyes wild with fury as she realized that her plan was crumbling down. “How could I fuck your life up, Cane? Huh? You’ve always managed to let everyone down on your own.”

  My body shook angrily and I took a step back, not trusting myself to be so close to her.

  “You have no idea who I am. You never knew me because you were too fucking worried about you. I have someone for the first time in my life that I would do anything for.”

  “That hurts,” she whispered, her face falling.

  “Nothing hurts you. You don’t have a fucking heart! But the love of my life does and now I have to figure out how to explain this bullshit. So get out of my office and book yourself a flight back home.”

  “I’ll always love you,” she whispered.

  I shook my head. “If you can love anything, maybe you do love me. But the feeling is not mutual.”

  “You have my number,” she said as she made her way down the hallway.

  “Lose mine!” I called after her.

  I stepped back inside my office and closed the door. I ran my hands through my hair, my mind racing in a million different directions.

  I picked up the phone and clicked SEND. As soon as I heard it pick up, I began talking. “Ryan? It’s Cane. Is she all right?”

  “I think so, sir.”

  “Are you taking her back to her house?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Go straight there and I’ll be there shortly.”

  CANE

  “I didn’t fucking know!” I bellowed, causing Jada to jump back and away from the bed. I ran my fingers through my hair. “I’m sorry for yelling. But just listen to me!”

  Jada was sitting in the chair by the window. Her eyes were swollen from crying and it killed me to see her like that. “It’s just too much, Cane. This is all just too damn much.”

  I took a step towards her and she held up a hand. “Just … don’t. I can’t process anything else today, okay?”

  “Baby, I am sorry for all of this. I literally walked into the office this morning and she was there. I had no idea.”

  Her bottom lip quivered. “I believe you. I just … I can’t.” She laughed a small little laugh that only made me feel worse. “I just can’t deal with anything else right now.”

  I watched her sitting there with her face streaked, her hair pulled partly down from her ponytail. The orange dress she had worn earlier just for my benefit, lying in a heap
on the floor.

  I felt like a complete fucking ass.

  “Can I hold you? Please?”

  She snorted. “I have to finish packing. I need to leave for the airport in an hour.” She looked down at herself. “And I need to get cleaned up. I’m a mess.”

  “You are just overwhelmed. Everything will be okay, baby. Let us find Simon and you can come back.”

  Her bottom lip quivered and a sick feeling took over my stomach. “What are you thinking?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

  “Nothing,” she said, looking away.

  “You are lying to me.”

  “You can spot one of your own kind.”

  “Jada. Don’t go there.”

  “Why, Cane? You don’t like being put on the spot? You don’t like it when I call you out on lying to me for weeks now? Even when my life might have been at stake? Or the fact that I walk in today and see Ashley in your office? You don’t want that open for discussion?”

  I tried to stay calm, to stay in control of my body, but it was spinning out of control too quickly. “Damn it, Jada! It’s not like that!”

  She leaned forward, her eyes angrier than I had ever seen them. “Here’s what it’s like, Cane. The fact that I’ve been feeling you pull away and scared to fucking death that it was going to end like it did with Decker. But you convinced me otherwise and I believed you. And now I have to go out of town because someone may want to kill me, yet I have to leave you here when he might be trying to kill you, too! How am I supposed to manage that, Cane? How am I supposed to live while worrying that something is going to happen to you?!”

  She took in a rush of breath and her body shook.

  “And then I come in there today to see Ashley sitting there.” Her eyes narrowed as she spat her name out like a poison. “Once again, I thought my life was headed in the right direction and I feel … I feel like everything has been thrown into a mixer and shaken beyond recognition!”

  Tears flowed down her cheeks again and I couldn’t stop myself. I bounded across the floor and wrapped my arms around her. She pounded her fists into my chest as I held her tight, before giving in and wrapping them around my back as she poured herself into me.

  “I’m so sorry, beautiful girl. So, so sorry,” I apologized, kissing her head. Tears began to prick my eyes. “This will be over soon and you can come home. We can pick back up where we left off.”

  She sniffled as she pulled away, keeping her eyes on the floor. “I don’t want to pick up from here.”

  My body stilled, my blood running cold. “For fuck’s sake! What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I’m just tired, Cane.” She shook her head. “I need to get packed, okay?”

  “I will be there to get you. I promise you.” I tilted her head to look in my eyes. “I love you.”

  Her eyes clouded again as she tried to look away.

  “I love you,” I repeated. “You are my world. My happiness. My exception.”

  Her lip shook as a smile made its way across those beautiful lips. “I love you.”

  She pulled from my grip and I let her chin drop.

  “You won’t go with me?” Her voice was so soft, I almost didn’t hear it.

  “I can’t, Jada,” I whispered, my voice cracking.

  She nodded, but I could see that the anger she had when I first arrived was making a comeback.

  My chest felt heavy as I considered walking out of this room. She was clearly irate at me. I just hoped like hell it would dissipate as she cooled down.

  “You are leaving Arizona because I asked you to, right? And not because you want to get away from me?”

  She refused to look at me as she muttered, “Yeah.”

  I grabbed either side of her head and pressed my lips firmly to hers. I rested my forehead against hers, not wanting to let her go, but knowing I had to.

  “You are mine. Whether you are here or in Chicago—you are mine.”

  She stayed silent as I turned and walked out of her room, leaving my heart, my happiness … my whole fucking world in her hands.

  Max was standing by the front door when I made my way down the steps, looking as wary as I felt.

  “How’d that go?” he asked. A pained look was on his face.

  “You’re going to have your hands full. That’s all I’m saying.”

  Max tilted his head. “Does she even know I’m tagging along?”

  I shook my head, waiting for his reaction.

  He snorted in disbelief. “You fucking owe me, man.”

  “When do I not, Max?”

  We eyed each other, a million words exchanged and not one spoken.

  “How mad is she?”

  “Madder than I would like. But at least it will encourage her to stay away from here until I can get this shit sorted. My biggest fear was that she would just show back up, but I think she’s pissed enough to stay away until I can come get her. Although she didn’t mean to, Ashley just may have done me a favor.”

  “Do you think you should try to smooth things over before you go? I mean, she was going to move to Chicago at one point, man. I’m just saying,” Max pointed out.

  “I would rather have her in Chicago and alive than here, with me, and in danger.” I shook my head, crazy ass thoughts flying through my mind, making me feel sick. “I can’t have anything happen to her, Max. This is a risk I have to take.” I paused. “I love her.”

  Max raised his eyebrows, a grin sneaking across his face. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

  “Yeah. Well …”

  “I know you have your plate full right now, but don’t forget about the delivery in the morning for AH. I’ve asked Howard to go over there and coordinate the subcontractors until he hears from me, but you or I have to sign the delivery ticket tomorrow.”

  “Thanks. I give you shit all the time, but I appreciate your help. You’re the only person in this world I can count on.” I clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Yeah, I know.” He smirked. “But honestly, keep your head up, Alexander. I have Jada taken care of, but you take care of you. There’d be a few people that would miss you if something happened to you. And I’d be pissed as hell to have to finish these projects myself.”

  I chuckled, shaking my head at my best friend. “Fuck you, Max.”

  He nodded. “Fuck you, too.”

  JADA

  My luggage made a thumping sound as it hit each stair on the way down. I probably could have picked the bag up and carried it, but it seemed like more effort than it was worth.

  “What are you doing?” Max grabbed the bag from me and threw it over his shoulder. “This is going to be a long trip if you don’t start acting like you got some sense.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You are taking me to the airport. It’s a thirty minute trip. You will survive.”

  “I’m ready!” Kari’s voice called out from behind me at the top of the stairs. “Come get this thing, Max! It’s heavy!”

  Confused, I turned around. “What’s going on? Where are you going?”

  Kari flashed me a huge grin. “We, my dear sister, are going to Chicago!”

  I glared at Max. “Care to explain?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of me.

  “Simmer down. I owed her a vacation anyway, so why not Chicago?”

  “Yeah! Don’t try to talk him out of this!” Kari pouted from behind me.

  I blew a piece of my hair out of my face. “This is ridiculous, Max. Utterly ridiculous.”

  He leaned in close, winking. “This is ridiculous, I agree. Cane should have killed Simon the night he grabbed you and this would have been over. But, alas, he didn’t and here we are.” He leaned back again and gave me a look. “The tickets are bought and we are going. You may as well suck it up and smile.”

  I glared harder.

  Max shrugged. “Or not.”

  He took the stairs two at a time, grabbed Kari’s bags, and passed me on his way back down. “Let’s get it, girls.”

  “Now,
Max,” my father said, shaking his hand. “You do understand you have my entire world in your care. I should warn you that while I may appear to be an old man, I can still come after you.”

  Max laughed. “Mr. Stanley, I promise you I will keep them safe. That’s why I am going … no matter how much Jada objects.”

  Dad looked at me and then back at Max. “I think I like you.”

  “We really need to board,” Kari said and I elbowed her in the side, flashing a look to silence her.

  “This is kind of sweet. Let them have their moment!”

  “Kari,” Dad said, nodding his head back and forth. “Behave.”

  “I will, as always.” She kissed him on the cheek and joined Max in line. “Goodbye, Papa.”

  “My Jada,” Dad said, eyeing me curiously. “I know something’s going on with you. But I won’t push. Just be safe and check in every now and then. And although you haven’t worked long enough to ensure I have to hire you back when you return, the odds are in your favor.”

  I watched him and he winced, placing his hand on his chest.

  “Daddy? Are you okay?”

  “Of course,” he said, looking a little uncomfortable. “My breakfast just isn’t settling the right way. And I hate seeing you go.”

  I hugged him once more before joining Kari and Max in the boarding line. I hated leaving him, but hopefully it would just be for a few days.

  We boarded quickly and I got comfortable in my seat. As I watched Max and Kari across the aisle, I smiled.

  “You okay, Jada?” Kari asked across the aisle.

  “Yeah, I’m good.”

  “I know that’s a lie, but I’m going to take it as a good sign that you care enough to lie,” Kari smiled.

  “You can take that for whatever you want to.” I leaned back against my chair, getting situated so I didn’t bother the old lady on my right.

  “Chicago seems like a fun place,” Kari said thoughtfully. “We will just think of this like a mini vacation.”

  “I suppose so.” I sighed sadly, knowing this was not going to be a vacation of any sort. “You know, Chicago is where I wanted to be originally after my divorce. It’s kind of bizarre that I’m ending up there now, don’t you think?” I paused, thinking about what I had just said. “There’s that saying, ‘For every door that closes, another opens.’ Mom used to say that. Do you remember?”